In this town you hear people say “she’s got a lot of hustle” – not “she can hustle” or “she’s a hustler” –  it’s that she is possessing of hustle.  They also say “take a meeting” instead of just have one and “there’s some heat around it” if something looks promising, so the L.A. lexicon is an overall issue.  For another day…

What they mean when they reference this “hustle” in noun form is that a person possesses the ability to get it done: produce work, network on behalf of that work, convince people that they can do more work of varying varieties very quickly and without much hand-holding.  To have the hustle is to be efficient.  To have an idea and then do that idea – maybe on your own, maybe with the help of people you find to help you.  In another, simpler phrase, to get ‘er done.  She’s got a lot of hustle means she sees it, wants it, and does it. 

This – I’ve come to learn over my week in L.A. – is rare in the 20-30 year old set.  

As perceived by the generation above us – that being the generation hiring us… – we lack the hustle.  We have ideas that we mull over then throw to the side in favor of dinner, drinks or a movie.  We want people to believe in a project we’re developing, but we can’t put what we’re trying to sell down on paper.  We finally get a bite on an idea we’ve put together but promptly blow it by handing in the assignment three weeks late.  We can’t be trusted, and so no matter how brilliant we are, no matter how much money our idea stands to make the world – it doesn’t matter if we can make it happen.  

Sometimes geniuses are found and nurtured and, though their path to success may be crooked slash drug-induced, they get there on account of their unique genius (ala Aaron Sorkin).  But most of the time – from what I can tell by one week in L.A. and four years in New York – it’s the good ideas with tons of initiative that rise to the top not the great ideas that get lost in a bottle of wine.  It’s the people who have an idea and then go do it that ultimately get ‘er done.  

People who possess the ability to take you from zero to 60 faster than you can count the seconds will be impressed by good ideas, unique thinking, clear talent – but it’s the hustle that pushes them over the edge. 

Someone I can’t remember right now said that X% of life is just showing up.  From what I’ve learned this week it’s not just showing up – it’s showing up with something – anything – done…and three more things well on their way.